24 hour smoke for two 10LB shoulders?

[Bobby_M]

I have the Smokin-it 2 running on an Auber WSD-1500 controller and have had many successful smokes of ribs and wings. Yesterday I loaded it up with 3 shelves installed. The bottom was a water pan and the two tops were a pair of 10LB pork shoulders. I have the main box probe clipped to a rack and it's not touching anything but air. The food probe is inserted about 3" deep in one of the shoulders.

I started running at 225F. I hit a stall at 160F that lasted for about 6 hours. Here I am 23 hours later and the meat is at 178F (I verified with a thermapen).

The only thing I can figure is that the probe sensing the box temp is wildly out of calibration and the box is really running under 200. I've been bumping the temp up 5F at a time and I'm now at 255. I'll be testing the probe in icewater slurry and boiling water when this is over, but any other ideas?

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[LarryD]

Is the actual temp probe connected to the rheostat touching anything and/or extremely dirty?  If so, that could be causing it to be off enough to give you an incorrect temperature.

I personally never use a water pan with pork butts/shoulders.  They stay plenty moist in these smokers without the need of a water pan.

Otherwise... it's done when it's done and sometimes it's just a wild ride.

[Bobby_M]

No, that probe is definitely in air touching nothing, relatively clean. Clipped to one of the racks that the meat is sitting on but the probe is nowhere near touching it. I mostly used the water pan to manage the drippings as it makes cleanup much easier. I'm now on hour 27 and the shoulder is only at 188F. I'm beginning to suspect the probe calibration. Even though the controller thinks the air in there is 255F, it may really be 200 or 210 or who knows.

[LarryD]

I'm not directly familiar with Auber upgrade for a #2.  I was imagining it somehow making use of the built-in fixed probe.  Can I assume this setup has worked in the past and that one of the steps in installing the Auber was bypassing the built-in rheostat?

Twenty-seven hours is just nuts...  I think somewhere around 12-14 hours is the longest I've ever gone.  I usually do ~235, but I can't imagine even 200 making it take _that_ long.  It's really quite confusing...  to hit the stall at 6 hours it was almost certainly running 225 or better.  So many questions and so few answers...

If you just want to eat sometime today, you could move it to your indoor oven.  The actual smoking part is done an you're just cooking right now.

[old sarge]

Is it possible that the Auber probe is resting in an air pocket previously filled with fat that has rendered out? Have you used an instant read thermometer to verify what the Auber is providing? 

[Bobby_M]

The lower shoulder finally hit 200F at 27 hours. I verified that the box probe is reading properly. I verified the food temp probe was accurate by stabbing my thermapen into the meat at approximately the same location.

I found a few sources claim 1-1.5 hours per pound and a few others say 1.5 to 2 hours per pound. While these were two x 10LB shoulders, they were packed in pretty close together, practically touching top to bottom. It may have acted more like one 20LB mass or maybe one average 15LB mass. If that's the case 15LB x 2 hours per pound is 30 hours.

This is the second time I've done pork shoulder but the last time I didn't have a water pan and I only had a single 11LB shoulder in there. I believe that one took 12 hours at an unwavering 225F box temp.

They pulled beautifully and the bark was crispy.

[swthorpe]

The timing on these smokes is always a nail biter - too short or too long!   But the key is just what you said:  "They pulled beautifully and the bark was crispy."   Excellent!

[Paul B]

The lower shoulder finally hit 200F at 27 hours. I verified that the box probe is reading properly. I verified the food temp probe was accurate by stabbing my thermapen into the meat at approximately the same location.

I found a few sources claim 1-1.5 hours per pound and a few others say 1.5 to 2 hours per pound. While these were two x 10LB shoulders, they were packed in pretty close together, practically touching top to bottom. It may have acted more like one 20LB mass or maybe one average 15LB mass. If that's the case 15LB x 2 hours per pound is 30 hours.

This is the second time I've done pork shoulder but the last time I didn't have a water pan and I only had a single 11LB shoulder in there. I believe that one took 12 hours at an unwavering 225F box temp.

They pulled beautifully and the bark was crispy.

If you can bump the temp up to 275-300°.  This will cut your time considerably and results will be similar.  Called "hot and fast".
To me I can't tell the difference.

Paul B

[OldeSmoker]

Glad it turned out well.

[barelfly]

Glad to hear it turned out well! That is a long time, but like you mention, Porkbutts can take sometime. My experience is like you, 1.5 hours per pound. And you mentioning they were touching, that could have been why it was going a little longer.

I do like to cook a bit higher temps these days to cut down on the time - seems to help push things through the stall. If you have the Auber, I would imagine you can cook at a hotter temp, I’ve started to do the ramp method to ease into a hotter temp and it seems to work very well once I get to 265-275 on my cooks.

Enjoy that smoker!!!!